Bulk bags are used in industry for the storage and transportation of flowable materials. Recently bulk bags have come into use in agriculture for the storage and transportation of seed grains, feeds, fertilizers and the like. Such bulk bags weigh up to several thousand pounds depending on the density of the material with which they are filled. They offer advantages of economy to the dealer and to the farmer but from the farmer's standpoint they are very difficult to handle.
Many farmers have utility trailers, grain trailers and so forth, none of which however, are particularly adapted to the problems of handling and discharging seed grain, feeds or fertilizer from bulk bags into a planter, grinder mixer or spreader. When bulk bags are used at all, they are lifted with a fork lift and the contents dumped into a grain trailer which is then used to auger the material where it is needed. Other farmers use a fork lift and hold the bulk bag over the planter, grinder mixer or spreader into which the contents are dumped directly. Neither technique is entirely satisfactory. The first procedure requires transferring the contents of the bag twice and the second is dangerous since it frequently requires a man to stand under the bulk bag as it is supported by the fork lift.